Hiring. It has always been a challenge for business owners. Typically, that was because the challenge was finding the right person with the right credentials and the right experience who will be the right fit for one open position. It was like an episode of “The Bachelorette” — narrowing down the pool to find “THE ONE.” However, today’s labor market feels more like a “Saturday Night Live” spoof of “America’s Got Talent” where they open the gates to let a flood of eager hopefuls in and literally no one shows up.

Yes, there are a lot more open positions than people applying for them. That means it is time to evaluate what you have done in the past, and look at hiring through the lens of DEI: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Here are a few thoughts about how to incorporate DEI into your company’s hiring practices.

Diversity: “the condition of having or being composed of different elements or qualities.” Have you ever considered how having a workforce “composed of different elements or qualities” can improve your company’s productivity and culture? Try taking a moment to think about what elements or qualities your company needs to tackle challenges and see solutions. Then write it down. Some call it a diversity statement. Really it is just a way of assessing your company’s values. Here is a sample: “Each team member contributes to our success by bringing a different perspective of how we identify challenges, develop solutions, and understand and engage with the world.” That perspective may open up a new pool of candidates.

Equity: “justice according to natural law; specifically: freedom from bias or favoritism.” This definition speaks to the fact that equity should not be unusual. It should be natural — something expected. Then, see if you can incorporate the values you just wrote down into how you advertise the job. Try describing the job in terms of how the position fits within the overall mission of the company.

Inclusion: “the act of including.” That is the standard definition, but for this one, I prefer the way “inclusion” is defined in the mathematical sense (paraphrased slightly so we don’t trigger the non-math readers): “a relation between two groups that exist when all members of one group are also members of the other group.” Do you see why it fits? Inclusion, by definition, recognizes that there are differences between people — there is diversity. But, inclusion is the relationship between two, seemingly different people — a relationship that shows there is more than just an overlap of common interests but that you are a part of my group, and I am a part of yours.

That leads to one last thought. You have to actually do it. As the great Dr. Maya Angelou once said, “Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard-boiled egg.”

Melissa B. Carrasco is a Shareholder with the Knoxville law firm of Egerton McAfee. She works with employers to navigate the ever-changing landscape of employment laws and regulations. This column is provided through the Knoxville Bar Association, a nonprofit corporation that offers community service programs such as the Lawyer Referral & Information Service, speakers’ bureau and public education programs.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Hiring with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind